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What are my chances of finding my lost iphone?

O

ohy3000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2011
4
0
Lost my iphone 3gs....:mad: i foolishly removed the lock screen for a friend to use and i didnt install findmyiphone.. :(

1)will i be able to locate it if it gets erased of all content/restored to factory settings?

2)is there any other way to locate it?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I know I'm digging myself a hole by answering this..

If they pull the Sim and restore it, it's gone forever.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The sim is what gives you a remote chance of tracking the person, if it's pulled, that's gone.

WiFi would work, as long as the person didn't restore. If the person did, no location data or services would be set up, you would have absolutely no way of tracking him.

I know man, it really sucks. My little bro had his jacked right out of his hands and I tried everything in my power. I made a police report and tried to use find my iPhone and everything. If the thief restores it and takes out the sim, it's basically an entirely new iPhone.

The only thing you can do is if you lost it in a store or school, have them dig into the video logs and try to find out who it was.
 
last question, since i'm still searching for some odd reason. the imei, does it have any effect at all? if its not changed as i see can happen what can i do about that?
 
ohy3000 said:
last question, since i'm still searching for some odd reason. the imei, does it have any effect at all? if its not changed as i see can happen what can i do about that?
Click to expand...

You can report to your official carrier where you buy the Iphone from, they might black list this IMEI so if the thief try to use it on that carrier, he/she can't. If the thief somehow unlock it and use on other carrier, you are SOL.
 
iMattcotv said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The sim is what gives you a remote chance of tracking the person, if it's pulled, that's gone.

WiFi would work, as long as the person didn't restore. If the person did, no location data or services would be set up, you would have absolutely no way of tracking him.

I know man, it really sucks. My little bro had his jacked right out of his hands and I tried everything in my power. I made a police report and tried to use find my iPhone and everything. If the thief restores it and takes out the sim, it's basically an entirely new iPhone.

The only thing you can do is if you lost it in a store or school, have them dig into the video logs and try to find out who it was.
Click to expand...

Nothing OP can do right now. The phone did not have Mobileme or find my Iphone on it. How can wifi connection track it down? :)
 
Crystal-RX said:
Nothing OP can do right now. The phone did not have Mobileme or find my Iphone on it. How can wifi connection track it down? :)
Click to expand...

WiFi would have worked for FMI had that been installed/activated even with the SIM pulled. Little to no chance of OP ever seeing his phone again i think.
 
Nothing you can do to track it. No wifi, imei or anything since you didn't install find my iPhone. Only way is if they try to return it or answer when you call it and agree to give it back.
 
ohy3000 said:
Lost my iphone 3gs....:mad: i foolishly removed the lock screen for a friend to use and i didnt install findmyiphone.. :(

1)will i be able to locate it if it gets erased of all content/restored to factory settings?

2)is there any other way to locate it?
Click to expand...

And why was Find My iPhone not installed? I keep hearing this same story over and over again.
A friend of mine just lost his iPhone in the library. He had installed FMI as soon as it became a free service. He tracked the phone down and had it back in hand within hours.
 
Crystal-RX said:
You can report to your official carrier where you buy the Iphone from, they might black list this IMEI so if the thief try to use it on that carrier, he/she can't. If the thief somehow unlock it and use on other carrier, you are SOL.
Click to expand...

I thought US carriers don't do anything like that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The carriers can put the number on a list (for say, when law enforcement asks for it), but they can't do anything proactive like shut off its connection from the network.
 
vincenz said:
I thought US carriers don't do anything like that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The carriers can put the number on a list (for say, when law enforcement asks for it), but they can't do anything proactive like shut off its connection from the network.
Click to expand...

You are correct, but where did the OP say he was American?
 
Applejuiced said:
Nothing you can do to track it. No wifi, imei or anything since you didn't install find my iPhone. Only way is if they try to return it or answer when you call it and agree to give it back.
Click to expand...

Yep, sorry OP but you are basically SOL.

Don't forget to change passwords of anything you regularly access from your iPhone.
 
Am I missing something here?

Find My iPhone is a free app but it requires MobileMe right? MobileMe costs $99 a year after the 2 month trial?

So technically its not free?
 
chris2k5 said:
Am I missing something here?

Find My iPhone is a free app but it requires MobileMe right? MobileMe costs $99 a year after the 2 month trial?

So technically its not free?
Click to expand...

No.
You'll figure it out when you sign up. Your MobileMe account is basically your iTunes account. When you set it up under your iPhone, it detects the features of that account being just FindmyiPhone. If you actually pay, I assume other features like mail and calendar will show up too
 
wordoflife said:
No.
You'll figure it out when you sign up. Your MobileMe account is basically your iTunes account. When you set it up under your iPhone, it detects the features of that account being just FindmyiPhone. If you actually pay, I assume other features like mail and calendar will show up too
Click to expand...

So I signed up for MobileMe and got a @me.com account. The Find My iPhone thing works fine. If I cancel MobileMe now what happens?
 
chris2k5 said:
So I signed up for MobileMe and got a @me.com account. The Find My iPhone thing works fine. If I cancel MobileMe now what happens?
Click to expand...

Its not a @me.com account.
You just create a free mobile me account using your itunes Apple ID and password and that only works for the find my iphone app. You dont get any other mobileme acess and you never have to cancel or get charged anything.
Follow this:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/find-my-iphone-setup/
 
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